The present invention relates to wheeled transportation vehicles, more particularly to methods and devices for protecting passengers of such vehicles from harm associated with deleterious events such as mine explosions and severe collisions.
It is desirable to protect passengers of a motor vehicle from death or serious bodily injury that they may incur when their motor vehicle encounters highly destructive forces such as associated with explosions and collisions. Passenger protection has been a concern for both military and commercial vehicles, the former being particular vulnerable when riding over land mines or otherwise being subjected to explosive forces.
Some current approaches for affording mine and/or crash protection are based on providing additional structural protection in the form of armor made of higher strength and hardened metals such as high hard steel. Further, the automotive industry is conducting crashworthiness tests for investigating various designs of bodies that can absorb energy through large plastic deformations. The use of metallic foams is also being explored by auto manufacturers in some of the “high-end” vehicles. To date, the passenger protection methodologies have proven to be excessive in terms of additional weight and/or additional expense.
AM General Corporation manufactures the “High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle” (abbreviated “HMMWV” and popularly referred to as “HUMVEE”®), a highly mobile four-wheel-drive U.S. military vehicle that provides a common light tactical vehicle capability. The HMMWV entered U.S. Army service in 1985, replacing the quarter-ton jeep and other vehicles. The HMMWV can be configured in a variety of vehicular modes, e.g., troop carrier, armament carrier, ambulance, scout vehicle, etc. Although the HMMWV military vehicles serve their missions well, they are notoriously vulnerable to enemy attack, particularly those implementing land mines and other explosive capabilities.